


Starting Again

by gelowo93



Series: Beginnings are the Hardest [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-10
Updated: 2012-08-10
Packaged: 2017-11-11 20:55:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/482805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gelowo93/pseuds/gelowo93
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Victoire decides that it's time to talk to Teddy, who hasn't been talking to her since the party six months ago.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Starting Again

_Teddy,_

_I know we haven't spoken much, but have a nice Christmas, and I hope you like the present._

_Victoire x_

It wasn't the best letter Victoire had ever written, in fact, it barely counted as being a letter, but Victoire had stopped caring five sheets of parchment ago. Her first attempt had been too long and rambling, the second had sounded too cheesy, the third had been ok – but then she had accidently spilled pumpkin juice on it, and when she had tried to remember what she had wrote (attempt number 4) it had sounded too forced and had ended up in the bin on top of the previous drafts. Victoire read over her latest attempt and scowled; it was too short, it didn't include anything that she really wanted to say to him, it was -

"Victoire! We're leaving, whether you want to come or not," came a shout from downstairs.

\- It was going to have to do. Victoire grabbed her coat from the back of her chair, pulled it on, and quickly shoved the small present and letter into the inside pocket.

"Coming!" shouted Victoire, running down the stairs and into the kitchen.

When she entered, the rest of her family was huddled around the fireplace, and they all automatically turned around at the sound of her footsteps. Her father was crouched down in front of the flickering flames, clearly having just flooed ahead to see whether they were alright to come through. Dominique looked like she had been arguing with Louis, as their mother was stood separating them and alternating stern glances between them.

"About time," Dominque muttered, and Victoire had to use all her self-restraint to ignore her.

"What 'ave you been doing?" Her mother asked. "I told you to be ready 'alf an hour ago."

"I had to finish something."

"Were you writing a letter to your  _boyfriend_?" teased Louis.

Victoire ignored him, too. Ignoring her siblings had become somewhat of a talent of hers in the past fourteen years.

"Your mother told you to be quiet, Louis," their father said. "Vic, do you want to go first?"

Victoire nodded, taking a pinch of Floo powder from the jar her father handed to her and threw it into the fire. The flames turned emerald instantly, and Victoire stepped into the fireplace, feeling them lapping at her, like strange warm tongues.

"The Burrow," she said, and her view of her family spun out of sight, replaced by swirling green flames and snatches of rooms beyond other fireplaces. The spinning made Victoire's stomach churn, until, suddenly, it stopped.

Blinking the soot out of her eyes, Victoire walked out of the fireplace she had arrived in, and into the path of three giggling mops of red hair that shrieked as they bumped into Victoire's legs. Three pairs of eyes looked up at her – two brown, one blue – and then, recognising her, the three eight year olds shouted their welcome.

"Vicky!"

"Gran! Victoire's here!"

"Vic!"

"Hello, you three," Victoire said, kneeling down and pulling Lily, Roxanne, and Lucy into one big hug. She let go quickly and moved out of the way of the fireplace just in time for her mother to come through. Her mother had just straightened up and stepped out of the way when Victoire's Gran came into view.

"Oh, you're here, Victoire. Hello, Fleur." Her Gran gave them both a quick hug, and then excused herself to carry on with the cooking as a nearby pan was boiling over. Victoire's mother joined Granny Weasley, giving Victoire a look that clearly told her to help by getting the children out of the way. Granny Weasley caught sight of it. "The rest of the kids are outside, Victoire."

"Okay, come on you three, we've got to go outside to give Gran some space." Victoire ushered the three young girls out of the back door and into the garden.

At first glance, the garden looked like it had become a battlefield. Forts had been built out of the snow that had fallen overnight, snowballs were whizzing through the air, and various pieces of winter clothing had been dropped on the ground like multi-coloured drops of blood. Victoire ducked just in time to avoid a snowball that had been thrown her way; Lily, Roxanne, and Lucy, however, ran straight into the fray.

Not feeling like running around in the snow, Victoire went to stand with the small group of adults huddled around a blue flame a little way from the door into the kitchen.

"Hi," greeted Aunt Audrey, as Victoire walked over, and there was a general mumbling of welcome as everyone else looked around to see who the newcomer was. "You aren't going to join the others, then?" Audrey gestured towards Victoire's cousins playing in the garden.

"No, I'm a bit old to be playing with them now."

"Could you tell Ron and George that?" Aunt Hermione asked, glancing over at her husband and brother-in-law hiding behind one of the forts so that no one else could fit behind it. She wore a disapproving look, but the edges of her lips looked like they were trying not to tug upwards into a smile.

Victoire didn't know how to respond to that, so she just gave a brief laugh, and the conversation resumed to what they had been talking about before Victoire joined them.

She did her best to keep up with the conversation, but the adults were talking about some sort of important Ministry thing, and it was clearly confidential by the way they kept saying ' _what happened before'_  and ' _you know who I'm talking about'_ rather than using specifics. Nevertheless, Victoire listened, asking questions here and there when she was confused about something she hoped wasn't too top secret.

This was why Victoire had come to dislike family gatherings. Apart from Dominique, her next oldest relative was Uncle Percy and Aunt Audrey's daughter Molly, who was fourteen. The age gap wasn't really that big – only four years – but the difference in maturity at twelve and sixteen was significant, especially when one was running around in the snow throwing snowballs at her younger cousins. This meant that Victoire didn't really have anyone her own age to talk to, and when she talked to the adults they had a habit of treating like a child still. It was frustrating, to say the least.

It was why Victoire had always been relieved when Teddy had joined them for the family gatherings. She had always been able to talk to him. Then she had to go and make him angry with her, so much so that he had barely spoken to her apart from the obligatory small talk for the past six months.

Victoire shifted her feet guiltily at the memory, and then looked around quickly, checking to see if any of the adults had noticed. No one had; they were still engrossed in their conversation. Getting fed up of not being able to properly join in with them talking, Victoire excused herself and went back into the house, wondering if her mother and Gran needed any help in the kitchen.

They didn't. Uncle Percy had appeared and was looking over the pans while Gran set the table, and her mother checked on whatever was cooking in the oven. It was also slightly claustrophobic with only the four of them in there, something that wasn't helped by the steam filling the small room, making it warmer than Victoire felt comfortable in.

Not wanting to stay in the kitchen any longer than necessary, Victoire headed down the hall, wondering where everyone else was. Most of her cousins had been playing in the snow, but there had only been four of her aunts and uncles outside, and the house was too quiet for the rest of her extended family to be in here.

There was the sound of hurried footsteps, and Louis ran past her, heading towards the kitchen, by the looks of it. He had come from the direction of the living room, and that was where Victoire was now headed, thinking that it was a good sign that there would be people there. As she walked, Victoire faintly heard her mother shout at Louis for running inside.

She was right. In the living room, Victoire found her dad, Dominique, and Andromeda Tonks. Her heart beat a little faster with the knowledge that, seeing as Andromeda was here, Teddy was most likely around somewhere, even if he was avoiding her. Unless he'd refused to come with his Gran, which was something Victoire could never see him doing.

"Hello, Victoire," greeted Andromeda as she entered the room and sat down on one of the old armchairs, which sank a good few inches at the addition of her weight. "How has school been?"

"It's ok, I've got some essays to write over the holidays."

"Ah, yes. I remember Teddy's workload picking up when he started his N.E.W.T.s. What subjects have you carried on with?"

"Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Potions, Transfiguration, and Charms."

The conversation carried on with Andromeda questioning Victoire on her studies (she was consistently getting Exceeds Expectations, with one or two Acceptables), and what she was going to do once she had left Hogwarts (Victoire wanted to become a Healer). It was a bit tedious for Victoire, who had similar conversations with the majority of her relatives and parents' friends ever since she came home for the holidays, but Victoire tried to not let her annoyance show; she genuinely liked Andromeda and knew that she was only expressing an interest in what she was doing. When Victoire mentioned that she wanted to be a Healer, Andromeda started talking about her own time working at St. Mungo's, which meant that all Victoire had to do was look interested and nod in the gaps in her speech.

Andromeda had just asked Victoire whether she wanted to specialise in any type of magical medicine when loud noises coming from the kitchen seemed to indicate that a herd of angry Hippogriffs had been let into the house. At the same time, Uncle Percy popped his head around the door, announcing that lunch was ready.

The four of them followed Percy back to the kitchen, where a table the length of the room had been constructed. The source of the noise quickly became apparent: Uncle Harry, Aunt Ginny, their son James, Aunt Angelina, her son Fred, and Teddy had entered, all dripping wet and covered in snow. Through the window, Victoire could see a line of broomsticks propped up against the wall of the house; it looked as if the six of them had been out for a morning game of Quidditch.

Victoire sat down at the table, watching the adults who had been outside use their wands to dry themselves and the crowd of children, who were now scrambling to get inside to eat. Soon, there was a pile of hats, scarves, and gloves at the kitchen door, everyone was seated, and Gran was levitating the bowls and plates of food to the table.

Lunch was a cramped affair, with elbows knocking your neighbour's, and plates of food zooming around so that everyone could have some of everything. Somehow, Victoire had ended up sitting next to Teddy, and she tried her best to avoid hitting him with her elbow, but she wasn't very successful. There was an awkward moment when they had both reached for the nearby gravy boat at the same, their hands banging into each other, and they had each insisted on the other taking it first, until Teddy grabbed it and poured the gravy onto Victoire's plate for her. Victoire mumbled a thank you, feeling her face heat up, and made a conscious effort to avoid looking at Teddy from then onwards.

Finally, dessert had been served, and the now empty plates proved its excellence. The younger children were becoming restless, wanting to go back outside and play, while the adults stared out the window at the light snow shower that had started during lunch, unwilling to move after eating too much.

It took a while, but the crowd sat around the table eventually began to dissipate, helped by the chorus of whining children. Victoire was roped into helping to clear the table, despite the fact that there were plenty of overage adults who could do it with a flick of their wand. When Victoire pointed this out, her mother shot her a look that would make the Minister of Magic cower, and she shot out of her chair, picking up the plates nearest to her.

Fortunately, once Victoire's mother had left the room, Aunt Ginny winked at Victoire, and, with a wave of her wand, the plates had vanished from the table and appeared in a pile next to the sink, where Hermione was overlooking the dishes as they washed themselves. Hermione made a disapproving sound and rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything.

"Thanks," Victoire said, passing Ginny on her way outside, and grabbing her coat that had been hung up by the door.

"No problem," said Ginny, smirking. Victoire felt like she was missing out on some inside joke, but ignored it, focussing on the more pressing issue at hand.

Which was, of course, that she had decided that she would speak to Teddy properly today whether it killed her or not. The present wasn't much, but she thought that it at least counted as a gesture of goodwill, that could perhaps make a crack in the wall that had sprung up between them.

Victoire hurried outside, having heard Teddy volunteer to watch over the kids in the garden earlier. She was surprised to see that he actually was watching over them, rather than joining in. Victoire gathered her courage and walked towards Teddy.

"Hi," she said, when she was near enough for him to hear her. Teddy jumped, and turned towards her. He looked surprised to see her there, and Victoire couldn't decide whether that was a good or bad thing.

"Hi," he said in reply, running a hand through his hair (it was green with purple polka dots, as he had been entertaining the children during lunch) and suddenly looking nervous.

"How's work been?" asked Victoire, determined to hold a conversation with him.

"Not bad, there's not really much to do now it's winter. Just put out food and hope the Snidgets find it." After surprising himself and getting an 'O' in his Care of Magical Creatures N.E.W.T., Teddy had decided that he wanted to continue working in that area, and was now an assistant at the Golden Snidget sanctuary in Somerset. His decision had surprised everyone who had assumed he would join the Ministry, but he had shrugged, said that that was what he wanted to do, and no more had been said on the subject.

Victoire tried to think of something to carry on the conversation, but her knowledge of where he worked, and magical creatures in general, was limited. Instead, she decided to throw caution to the wind.

"Are you still mad at me?"

"What?" Teddy's eyes widened in confusion.

"We haven't spoken properly since… you know… and you haven't even wrote to me. We used to be really good friends. I want us to still be friends, but if you don't then that's fine." Victoire wasn't looking at him now, the courage that she had summoned minutes before seemed to be evaporating fast.

"Vicky, I –"

"It's fine. I got you a Christmas present, I suppose I hoped you'd see it as a peace offering." Victoire reached into her coat pocket, grabbed the small package and letter, and thrust them both into Teddy's hands.

Teddy stared at the immaculately wrapped present in his hand, and Victoire watched him; his face was a mixture of emotions that she couldn't decipher. Silence stretched between them, in which Victoire could feel her heart beating twice as fast as was usual, and she wondered what was going through Teddy's mind.

Suddenly, the silence was broken. Not by Teddy speaking, as Victoire had hoped for, but by a cry from the direction of the snow forts.

Both Victoire and Teddy jumped, startled. Victoire turned to see what had happened, and, seeing the rest of her cousins slowly converging around a crying boy with a mop of auburn hair, immediately started hurrying towards them.

"Hugo! What happened?" Victoire asked as she drew closer.

"We were just playing and one of the snowballs hit him in the face," said Louis. Victoire glanced at him before turning her attention back to Hugo, and could see he looked guilty - Victoire guessed that it was his snowball that had hit Hugo.

"Ok, come on, Hugo. Let's get you inside." Putting her arm around his shoulders so she could guide him, Victoire helped Hugo get up and started walking back inside.

She could feel his shoulders shaking as he tried to suppress his cries, and Victoire squeezed him tighter. Victoire could feel Teddy's gaze on them as she walked Hugo inside. Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw him open his mouth to say something, but Victoire didn't stop to check.

Victoire only had to go as far as the living room to find Ron and Hermione; they were gathered with the rest of the adults, and when Victoire entered with Hugo, eyes red and blotchy with tears, Hermione sprang from her seat to see what was wrong. Victoire passed Hugo to his mother, who immediately started asking what was wrong.

"He got snow in his eye, I think," Victoire explained, as Hugo's words were masked by his sniffling. At her words, Hermione pulled out her wand, pointed it at Hugo's eyes, and he immediately stopped crying.

Hermione went back to her seat, taking Hugo with her and sitting him on her lap. Seeing that all the chairs were taken, Victoire sat on the floor, her back against the sofa next to where Uncle Charlie sat.

She could have gone back outside. That would mean having to hear what Teddy had to say, though, and she wasn't sure that she wanted to know. He could say that he didn't think they could be friends anymore, that she could have her present back, and that he didn't want to have to speak to her every time there was a family gathering. Or, he could thank her for the gift, say that yes, he wanted them to be friends, but that that was as far as it could go. Victoire didn't know which option was worse.

When she thought about it, it was ridiculous. Teddy hadn't been speaking to her for over six months, and yet she still couldn't stop thinking about him. She longed for him to treat her as a friend again, and every morning at school she had hoped that an owl would appear, bearing a letter from him. It was stupid, she had decided, for her to want his forgiveness so badly – she had fallen out with friends before and after a few weeks she had either made up with them, or forgotten about them. Teddy had to be the stubborn one.

So instead of going outside to talk to him, and have him potentially reject her for the second time, Victoire sat and pretended to listen to the adult conversation that she barely understood or cared about, all the while thinking of various she could annoy Teddy. She would never carry any of them through, but planning them calmed Victoire, somehow.

Victoire stayed there until it was dark outside, and suggestions of "we should be going home" and "we need to start making tracks" started coming from the adults. Chaos ensued, with everyone making sure they had all of their children, and that they all had their own coats. Victoire tried to stay out of the way so as not to add another body to the crowd in the kitchen. Unfortunately, Teddy seemed to have had the same idea.

"Oh, err… hi," he said, freezing in the doorway to the living room, where Victoire had stayed.

"Hi." Victoire smiled tightly.

Neither spoke for a moment.

"Thanks for the present."

"No problem."

Silence again.

"Vic, I –"

"VICTOIRE!" came her mother's voice from the kitchen, and Victoire, knowing her mother's temper, hurried towards the kitchen, passing Teddy in the doorway.

"See you," she said as she passed.

"Yeah," said Teddy, and then added as an afterthought, "I'll write you."

Victoire waved goodbye, and tried to suppress her smile as she entered the kitchen where her family was waiting to go home.


End file.
